CES 2017 News - Top 5 Launches: Nvidia Shield, Samsung QLED TV and Amazon Alexa Tick All the Boxes
The primary technological products which are showcased during the CES 2017 are the giant televisions, smart home tools, VR, self-driving cars, smartphones and tablets, among others.
Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia started the CES 2017 kickoff last Wednesday, saying that its chips have gone beyond use in PCs and smartphones. They now appear in self-driving cars, AI and other trending new technologies today, and that explains the company's surge in success.
1. Nvidia Shield
Huang said that voice recognition, self-driving and other advanced technologies that were once only thought to be science fiction are now realized thanks to machine learning. She adds that this machine learning advancement is partly due to the graphics chips created by Nvidia.
For self-driving cars, Nvidia announced Xavier, the brains of the self-driving automobile, and Ai Copilot, which served as the driver's aid to calling out hazards while driving.
Nvidia also introduced a new Shield Android TV streaming box. This new Shield has several cool features, including having a Google Assistant. It also has 4K HDR streaming from Google Play, YouTube, Amazon and Netflix.
Gamers will also enjoy the new Nvidia Shield, as it allows them to stream games from PC to TV. Its worth $199 and is bundled with a brand new controller.
2. Samsung QLED TV
Tim Baxter, Samsung Executive, acknowledged the "challenging year" that it had in 2016; primarily due to the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Baxter said, "We continue our intensive efforts internally and with third-party experts to understand what happened and make sure it will not happen again."
Samsung then announced a slew of new products, including washers, dryers, smart refrigerators, and the most cheered QLED TV.
QLED TV is Samsung's flagship television for the year 2017. The QLED series come in three versions: Q7, Q8 and Q9.
Samsung adds that QLED TVs are a huge improvement over OLED TVs in terms of brightness and color reproduction. QLED TVs will deliver remarkable picture quality no matter the lighting quality of the room it is in, according to Samsung.
3. Amazon Alexa
Alexa is Amazon's Virtual Assistant responsible for making your home "Smart." At CES 2017, Amazon extended Alexa's capabilities and now you can hear her voice inside cars too.
Through Ford and its SYNC 3 AppLink software, Alexa can be used to ask about directions, the latest headlines, update your shopping list, listen to an audiobook and more. Alexa can even be used to start your car's engine or unlock your car's doors.
4. Virtual Reality Shoes
One of the latest VR innovations introduced at CES 2017 are the Virtual Reality Shoes. These wearables make your feet think they are walking on terrain depicted in the VR world through vibrations.
These devices were created by Cerevo, a Japanese company. Worth $1000 - $1500, these devices are for the virtual reality gamer who wants to experience VR a bit more. Takuma Iwasa, Cerevo founder, said "Once you kick the monster in a VR world, you can feel the monster kick back."
5. Kado Ultra-slim Chargers
These chargers by Kado are so slim they resemble credit cards. You can easily put them in your wallet and bring them up, pull out two prongs and attach to A/C for a quick charge with your smartphones.